He is a man who owns a farm, who works on a farm regularly, who makes money from his farm while producing goods and/or materials. He is by any and all useful definitions of the word, a farmer.
The National Farmers Union also called it "a disaster". The president of the Country Land and Business Association called it a "betrayal". Maybe they're also uneducated people following whispers when they'll be unaffected. They should have asked you first.
Oh and the Government estimate of only affecting 20,000 farms, and we all know how good Government estimates are no matter who is in charge, represents about 10% of the entire farming industry. I guess those guys can go fuck themselves though because it's "only" 20,000 farms.